On Architecture, Volume II: Books 6–10

by Vitruvius, Frank Stephen Granger (Translator)

The Renaissance man avant la lettre.

Vitruvius (Marcus V. Pollio), Roman architect and engineer, studied Greek philosophy and science and gained experience in the course of professional work. He was one of those appointed to be overseers of imperial artillery or military engines, and was architect of at least one unit of buildings for Augustus in the reconstruction of Rome. Late in life and in ill health he completed, sometime before 27 BC, De Architectura which, after its rediscovery in the fifteenth century, was influential enough to be studied by architects from the early Renaissance to recent times.

In On Architecture Vitruvius adds to the tradition of Greek theory and practice the results of his own experience. The contents of this treatise in ten books are as follows. Book 1: Requirements for an architect; town planning; design, cities, aspects; temples. 2: Materials and their treatment. Greek systems. 3: Styles. Forms of Greek temples. Ionic. 4: Styles. Corinthian, Ionic, Doric; Tuscan; altars. 5: Other public buildings (fora, basilicae, theaters, colonnades, baths, harbors). 6: Sites and planning, especially of houses. 7: Construction of pavements, roads, mosaic floors, vaults. Decoration (stucco, wall painting, colors). 8: Hydraulic engineering; water supply; aqueducts. 9: Astronomy. Greek and Roman discoveries; signs of the zodiac, planets, moon phases, constellations, astrology, gnomon, sundials. 10: Machines for war and other purposes.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1934

About the author

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (born c. 80–70 BC, died after c. 15 BC) was a Roman military engineer under Julius Ceasar, generally attributed to be the sole author of the only extant major work from classical antiquity on architecture, De architectura, better known in English as The Ten Books on Architecture.

Reviews

[Bettie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Marcos Augusto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contents of the books 6-10 include, domestic buildings such as Roman villa, typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Pavements, an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering and decorative plasterwork, coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. Water supplies and aqueducts, to bring water from outside sources into cities and towns. Aqueduct water supplied public baths, latrines, fountains, and private households; it also supported mining operations, milling, farms, and gardens. Sciences influencing architecture, like geometry, measurement, astronomy, sundial. Use and construction of machines, Roman siege engines, water mills, drainage machines, hoisting, pneumatics.

Vitruvius originated the idea that all buildings should have three attributes: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas ("strength", "utility", and "beauty"). These principles of perfect proportion in architecture led to the famous Renaissance drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea but amazing stuff on ancient Roman architecture.